U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers gave Apple an early court victory ruling that the company immediately reinstate Epic Games’ Fortnite on its App Store.
Malathi Nayak and Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
But U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’s ruling late Monday wasn’t a total loss for Epic, as she granted the company’s request for a temporary order blocking Apple from limiting the game developer’s ability to provide Unreal Engine, key graphics technology, for other apps.
Epic breached its agreements with Apple by trying to make money on Fortnite purchases while accessing Apple’s platform for free, but didn’t breach any contracts related to Unreal Engine and developer tools, Rogers ruled.
By limiting Unreal Engine, “Apple has chosen to act severely,” hurting third-party developers who use Epic’s technology platform, Rogers said… Microsoft Corp., which makes the Xbox, uses the technology for games developed for consoles, PCs and mobile devices, and is backing Epic in court… “Epic Games and Apple are at liberty to litigate against each other, but their dispute should not create havoc to bystanders,” she wrote.
MacDailyNews Take: Epic Games wants all of the benefits afforded to it by Apple’s App Store for free. That’s not going to happen.